Cartridge belt link



Feb. 10, 1948. H. B. HOLROYD CARTRIDGE BELT LINK Filed July 15, 1942 2Sheets-Sheet 1' HnwardE Hulru :1

Feb. 10, 1948. H. HO LROYD CARTRIDGE BELT LI NK Filed July 15, 1942 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Hnvvard ELHmlru 3 %WW Patented Feb. 10, 1948 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE CARTRIDGE BELT LINK Howard B. Holroyd, Davenport,Iowa Application July 13, 1942, Serial No. 450,779

' (Granted under the actof March 3, 1883, as

1 Claim.

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or forthe' Government for governmental purposes, without the payment to me ofany royalty thereon.

This invention relates to cartridge belts for automatic firearms andmore particularly to an improved link therefor.

It is an object of this invention to produce an improved link which isgeometrically symmetrical with respect to a plane including the axes ofthe loops and therefore has the advantages inherent in such symmetry,that is, equal adaptability to right or left hand feed.

It is a further object to produce a link which will have improved stressdistribution characteristics under load, thus tending to reducedeformation in feeding long and heavy belts of the type required for usewith modern armament.

The exact nature of the invention as well as other objects andadvantages thereof will appear from a description of a preferredembodiment as shown in the accompanying drawing in which: V

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the new link.

Figure 2 is a top plan View of the link.

Figures 3 and 4 are end elevational views of the new link as seen fromopposite ends.

Figure 5 is a plan view of a portion of a cartridgebelt assembled withthe new links.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the blank from which the new link is formed.

Figures 7 and 8 are respectively plan and end elevational views of ablank. strip showing the embryo links in various stages of formation.

Figure 9 is a perspective view .of a modified form of my new link.

Figure 10 is a top plan viewof the link shown in Fig. 9.

Figure 11 is a sectional view on the line llll of Fig. 10.

Figure 12 is a plan view of the blank from which the modified link isformed. j

Referring to the drawing by characters of reference, it will be seenthat my new link comprises a body portion I, and a pair of hinge loopforming tongues 2 and 3 which extend from opposite sides of the centralsection of the body portion I and have been closed in to form a circularhinge loop. The end sections of the body portion are offset from thecentral section and from opposite side edges of these end sectionsextend the cartridge gripping loop forming legs 4 and 5 and Band I, eachpair of these loop forming legs being closed into circular form in theopposite direction from the body portion to that taken by the hingeloop, thus forming a pair of circular cartridge gripping loops which arecoaxial with each other andaxially parallel to but offset from the hingeloop. As seen in end elevation the new link may be likened to. that of aletter H, the

amended April 30, 1928; 370 0. G. 757) open ends of which have beenclosed upon themselves tosubstantially the form of the figure 8. It willbe noted that the loops of the new link are open at the ends of theloopforming legs at positions on the circumference of the loop which areremote from the connecting body portion.

The links of the prior art may be classified roughly as W type and as Stype and in each case the openings in the loops are adjacent the 7 bodyportion and each loop forming member has only a single point of juncturewith the body portion. When such belts are under load the stressesacting upon each loop appear to be concentrated at the point of junctionwith the body portion and tend to bend each loop outwardly at thatpoint. In the case of the new link, however, the stresses may beconsidered to be equally distributed between the two legs forming eachloop, thus reducing the stress acting at the junction points andincreasing the resistance of the new link to deformation under load.

As the new link has complete geometrical symmetry with regard to a planewhich bisects the through a unitary die as is commonly employed inmaking the conventional links. The blank from which the link is formedis shown in plan in Fig. 6. Regardless of whether formed in a unitary orprogressive die structure the general steps'of the method may be:

1. Form the blank to the shape shown in Fig. 6.;

2. Ofi'set the central section of the body portion from the plane inwhich the end sections are secured.

3. Bend the hinge loop forming tongues toward each other into circularform and in adirection away from the plane of the body portion.

4. Simultaneously with, or separately from the last step, bend thecartridge loop forming legs toward each other into circular form and inthe opposite direction from the plane of the body portion.

5. Compress about arbors for final sizing and shaping.

Figures '7 and 3, in plan and end elevation respectively, show certainof the above steps in forming the link in a progressive die structure,the embryo links remaining attached to the scrap of the blank strip forpositioning as they are passed through the die structure. Theprogression shown in Figures 7 and 8 is intended to be only illustrativeand it should be realized that the link may be formed by the exercise ofa greater or fewer number of operations than those detailed. The designof the dies which may be used will be readily apparent to those who areskilled in the die forming art. The essential points of my method arethat, with respect to the plane of the original blank, the cartridgegripping 100p forming legs are bent into circular form in a directionopposite to that taken by the hinge loop forming tongues.

Although I have illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8 the various steps or stagesof a method of producing my improved link in a series of progressivedies wherein a selvage strip is provided for advancing and locating theblanks in successive die stages, it is comprehended that my improvedlink may also be produced in a set of progressive dies of the so-calledscrapless type as well as those in which a selvage strip is provided onboth sides of the blank. From the standpoint of economy due to theelimination of excess scrap, the socalled scrapless die method ofproducing belt links is at present very highly regarded in the art. Itwill be apparent, however, that my improved method of producing links isentirely independent of the width of the blank strip fed to the dies. Itis only necessary according to my improved method that a series of pairsof cuts be provided, the oppositely extending cuts of each pair beingsubstantially equal in length and extending substantially equaldistances from the center or main body portion. By producing a series ofsuch substantially equal, longitudinal oppositely extending cuts in astrip of any given width it will be obvious that there will be produceda substantially flat blank having a plurality of pairs of loop formingarms extending from the central body portion, at least one pair of whichcomprises two oppositely extending arms of substantially equal lengthand configuration. Furthermore, it will be noted that as illustrated inFigs. 7 and 8, I have disclosed a method wherein every pair of cuts isso made that each cut lying on one side of the body portion issubstantially identical in length and configuration with a correspondingcut extending oppositely from the central or body portion,-although mynovel method is not to be thus limited in practice.

A modified form of my new link is shown in Figures 9 to 12. A comparisonof Figure 12 with Figure 6 shows that the hinge loop forming tongue 8 ofthe modified link is located entirely on one side of the centralconnecting body portion la of the blank and is further provided witha-finger 9 at its end remote from the body portion la. The cartridgegripping loop forming legs 4a, 5a, 6a, and la are identical with thosehereinbefore described. In forming the link the cartridge gripping loopsare formed in one direction from the plane of the original blank aspreviously described and the hinge loop is formed in the oppositedirection from that plane, the finger 9 being interlocked with the bodyportion la as shown in Fig. 11 to positively prevent any increase inpitch distance as a result of deformation of the hinge loop. Thevariations which may be required in the die structure to accommodate andform the modified blank into a belt link should be obvious to thoseskilled in the art. Basically the method is the same in that the hingeand cartridge gripping loops are formed into circular form in oppositedirections with regard to the plane of the original blank,

It is to be noted that when the blanks illustratedin Figs. 6 and 12arerespectively formed into the links shown in Figs. 1 and 9, two ears ineffect integrally join the three loops together.

'These ears can be considered as also indicated by the numeral i inFigs. 1 and 2, and by the numeral I a in Figs. 9 and 10. Also, referringto the blank shown in Fig. 6 the strips 2. l, and 6 ,7 may be consideredas joined integrally midway between their ends by bridges of material ofwhich they are composed; and likewise, in the blank shown in Fig. 12,the two strips 4a. and 6a may be considered as joined integrally by abridge of material of which they are composed. with the strip 8connected integrally at one end with one side of said bridge.

It will be understood that the modification described above is by nomeans the only one which may occur to those skilled in the art. Forexample, any or all of the loops of the basic link described might beclosed by interlocking their free ends in the region substantiallydiametrically opposed to the body portion. It is intended, therefore,that the invention only be limited as indicated by the scope of theclaim appended hereto.

I claim:

An ammunition belt link of one-piece construction of flat strip materialcomprising a central body portion, a pair of substantiallysemi-cylindrical sleeve-forming tongues of substantially equalcircumferential lengths integral with and extending from said bodyportion, said sleeveforming tongues having their free ends proximatewhereby a, longitudinally split substantially cylindrical hinge sleeveis formed, the ends of saidbody portion being extended beyond said hingesleeve and bent opposite to said hinge sleeve, said body portion beingsymmetrical about a median plane passing between the free ends of' saidtongues equidistant from the same and containing the axis of the hingesleeve, a plurality of substantially cylindrical coaxial grippingsleeves axially spaced from each other a distance substantially equal tothe axial length of said hinge sleeve and integrally formed with theends of said body portion, the axis of said gripping sleeves beingparallel to the axis of the hinge sleeve and lying in said median"plane, said gripping sleeves being split longitudinally along a lineincluded in said median plane, the split portions of said sleeves beingopposite from said body portion.

HOWARD B. HOLROYD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

